Nearly two years after St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris paid two American lobbying firms over US$96,000 (EC$259,000) to get the United States Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) removed, the advisory is still in place.
“It is a work in progress and we are in fact actively engaged with the authorities to do all we can in an effort to have it lifted,” Valencia Grant, Prime Minister Harris’ press secretary told the Texas-based Caribbeannewsnow on Thursday.
Presenting the 2016 Budget Address in the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly on 19th December 2015, Prime Minister Harris, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, informed lawmakers and the nation that his Cabinet “approved the retention of the professional service of Lanny J Davis and Associates, to assist us in more effective engagement with the US Government” and that Mr, Davis’ “engagement comes at no cost to our Government.”
But in compliance with the United States Attorney General’s FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) Report to the United States Congress, Davis’ company filed a report stating that the “Office of Prime Minister of St. Christopher & Nevis paid Lanny J. Davis & Associates, LLC of 1900 M Street, NW, Washington, DC, US$52,752.30 for the six month period ending June 30, 2016 for lobbying.”
Another statement filed with the United States Attorney General’s FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) Report to the United States Congress, stated that “Levick Strategic Communications, LP, of 1900 M Street, NW 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20036, received from the Prime Minister’s Office of St Christopher & Nevis thru Lanny J. Davis & Associates, US$43, 301.08 for the six month period ending June 30, 2016 for lobbying services.”
But in the face of these United States documents Prime Minister Harris continues to lie to the Nation.
“Not one cent was paid by this government to Lanny Davis for those efforts. Not one cent,” Harris told the parliament in August, labelling New York-based News Americas Now, which reported the first payment, “a propaganda political rag sheet reporting fake news.”
Dr. Harris said during the sitting of the National Assembly that he has given his “cabinet the assurance that the services of Lanny Davis were not to be on the account of this government.”
“On December 4, 2015, I was retained by Prime Minister, the Honorable Timothy Harris, Head of the Government of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. We were asked to conduct an independent review of the increased efforts of the St. Kits and Nevis Government to enhance and strengthen its vetting and background checking procedures under its CBI,” Lanny Davis in a January 26th 2017 opinion in the Daily Caller.